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May 15, 2011

Schadenfreude 108 (A Continuing Series)

[Jorge Posada] refused to play Saturday night after Joe Girardi demoted him to ninth in the batting order ... and the episode may color Posada's pinstriped legacy and career.

[Brian] Cashman came to the press box during the game against the Red Sox and announced that Posada had gone to Girardi's office about an hour before the scheduled first pitch and "asked him to remove him from the DH slot in the ninth hole," Cashman said. "There is no injury" ...

But on Twitter during the sixth inning of the game, Posada's wife, Laura, tweeted a different story, saying on the social media site that Posada "loves being a Yankee... He's trying his best to help his team win. Today, due to back stiffness he wasn't able to do that."

"The fact is, he refused to play," a senior Yankee official said when told of Mrs. Posada's tweet. "He never said anything about an injury to the doctor, the trainer, the manager or the general manager. This is just an attempt on his part to rewrite history." ...

According to a team source, Posada, who is batting .165 in 32 games, went to Girardi's office and told the manager he was embarrassed by the lineup demotion ...

If Posada refuses to play Sunday night, he'd be in breach of his contract and the Yankees could attempt to void it, although that is extremely difficult and would undoubtedly spur a fight with the players' union. Posada, 39, is making $13.1 million this season, the last one in a four-year, $52.4 million deal.

Apparently, in the spring of Jorge Posada's discontent, this was the final humiliation.

Never mind that the 39-year-old Posada was batting .165, including 0-for-24 righthanded, as the Yankees' reluctant designated hitter. To be shunted to the No. 9 spot in the batting order, in a national TV game, against the Red Sox, no less... well, this was one humiliation too much ...

According to the Yankees, there was no injury, no personal problem prompting this astonishing decision ... Just the stigma attached to batting ninth. Initially, they were stunned. Then they were merely steamed. And, as is so often the case in these ugly disputes between the Yankees and their revered multi-ring bearers, the plot thickened as the night wore on. ...

After Saturday night's game, Posada gave a rambling explanation for why he asked out of the lineup, sticking with the "strained back" story in and around implying that he's been "disrespected" by the Yankees and that he had to clear his head. The alleged back injury, he said, was "nothing serious" and yet he couldn't say for sure when he'd be able to play again.

[It will] be remembered as the lowest point of Posada's career. The catcher asked out of the lineup after being dropped to the No. 9 spot against Josh Beckett — a snub that Posada couldn't live with. Not against the arch-rival Red Sox, not on national television, not when it came directly from the manager he's never liked, Joe Girardi. ...

In-game briefings are extremely rare in the Bronx, reserved only for major news — or major trouble. ...

It was the Yankees' way of putting the spotlight directly on Posada. They were officially putting him on notice. You embarrass us, we'll do likewise, is what Cashman all but said. Within minutes, Posada's wife Laura posted on her Twitter account that Jorge had been suffering from a bad back, which accounted for his absence.

Posada marched into Girardi's office and told him that he felt disrespected. Rather than suffer the ignominy of hitting last in a nationally televised game against the Boston Red Sox, Posada pulled himself out of the lineup. ...

[Posada] was irritated after learning that Cashman had addressed the matter during the game. "I think he should have waited for the game to be over," Posada said, adding, "You don't do that. You’re not supposed to do that." ...

Every day Posada appears to be growing more and more exasperated by the attention he is receiving ... He was brusque Saturday, two days after abruptly ending an interview with reporters when pressed about his ongoing adjustment to being the D.H.

With speculation swirling, Cashman met with reporters in a workroom behind the press box during the third inning to give an update. The GM said Posada was not injured.

That irritated Posada.

"I don't know why he made a statement during the game. I don't understand that. That's the way he works now, I guess," Posada said. ...

"The situation that was created by him, then he would have to explain himself after," Cashman told ESPNNewYork.com via telephone. "It was as simple as that. It is common baseball practice to explain after someone is a late scratch in the lineup, they give a reason why. ... Jorgie knew exactly what was being said. This is not a surprise." ...

Earlier this week, a Yankee official told ESPN New York that the team doesn't know what they would do with Posada if he continues to fail to hit. Posada doesn't play the field anymore and doesn't run well, so if he doesn't hit, he would seem to have no value on the roster.

In the big picture, this is about what happens when teams try to take aging icons into their twilight and how difficult it is to make that end happily ever after. ...

[Posada] insisted before yesterday's game that he was not in a slump, but rather was "in a little hole." He was batting .165, the lowest among 193 players qualified for the batting title.

[T]he disharmony between legacy player and his manager, GM and organization is now overt. Posada did not simply chalk this up to a bad personal day, which might have defused some of the heat. Instead, he flip-flopped on different reasons in explaining his decisions. ...

You wonder if this unnerves a clubhouse at a fragile time; the Yankees lost 6-0 to Boston last night and are reeling. And this all just feels like a coming attraction. ...

I don't wish injuries (or plane crashes) on our rivals, but I feel comfortable feeling the schadenfreude over this one. They know his contract was too long and too much. Now we can wait for Jeter to implode over his contract.

I don't blame Posada for this situation. The fault here lies with the Yankee organization and the bullshit concept of the "core 4" that they've tried to peddle in recent years. They floated the notion that these players (Mo, Jeter, Posada, Pettitte) were not mere professional ballplayers, they were icons who stood for something greater than just playing the game - they exemplified "the Yankee Way." Hell, the Yankees played this up for so long, it's not surprising that the players not only went along with it but assumed that the Yankees actually meant what they said. ...

[W]atching Cashman attempt to dismantle the myth-making behind these Yankee icons one player at a time for the past six months or so has warmed the cockles of this Red Sox fan's heart.

Buck and McCarver, in the first 2-3 innings, were nearly salivating and bowing down in worship to what what a proud leader Posada is, and what a proud man, and a proud emblem of Yankee greatness. Posada has a lot of pride, apparently. But no chin.

That's cold. (Would Theo ever say this about Tek?) Seems like Cashman has taken so much shit over there for so many years, now that he's in his final year of his contract, he's bustin' loose. ... I love it.

I think Cashman is acting like an ass. My gut feeling is Posada is just having trouble adjusting to the dh role like Pappi said. I don't think the fall off from last year would have been nearly so drastic had he been catching. Cashman is just pouring gas on things these days.....

This is one of the many parts of baseball that I don't get. Posada makes MILLIONS of dollars - more money than most of us will ever see in our lifetimes and he is throwing a tantrum about batting 9th? I don't care about his ego or how he is "treated". Ask the farm workers in the central valley how they are being treated for pennies. Fuck You Posada. Stop being a princess and suck it up.

I'm certainly no fan of Jorge Posada but we have all had days at work when we've been more than a bit pissed off with life, and $13m salary or not, sometimes you vent and wish you could put the thing back in the box.

When your main boss tells tales out of school, a man who did a fair bit in the good years for those assholes (silent m for Susan Silverman)was a cheap shot. You agreed the contract, Cashman.... you know old players decline.....

I thought it lacked class. Cashman's interview on Fox was an eff you and unbecoming.